Gosh Guys (and Gals, I guess?)
Do I yearn for a BIG scope? For sure!
BUT, I made a darn good 6"f6, and I've taken it to a bunch of places and Star Parties, including the WSP06 in the Keys, where I have had a great time.
I am convinced that a good scope (any size) that you enjoy, and can use regularly, is the BEST scope for you.
My 6" began with a pyrex blank that I tortured into a pretty fine optical mirror, more by luck than skill. Ken Novak, when still supplying parts, supplied the mirror mount and secondary spider. I forget where the secondary mirror came from!
I then built, using mail-order for many items, the OTA, several mounts, several tubes, several focusers, several bases, and have now evolved a really useable, for me, SYSTEM!
The heavy aluminum pedestal, which looks like it came from a fold-up artillary mortar piece, holds an old Meade Starfinder 110VAC 1" dia. shafts GEM. I 'found' some 7" ID rings at a Swapfest!
A sheetmetal company made an aluminum tube for me, using my Rings.
A powdercoater in Melbourne, FL did the tube for $40.
Astromart for the DAR focuser and the DSCs and SDI for some gears and a astronomer machinist for some of the other gears and a few hours with some wood and power tools and! VOILA! Here comes a humble 6"f6!
I can comfortably say, and my WSP friends will agree, that I ALWAYS am enjoying my finding, viewing, and studying through my scope!
While I do have trouble on some nights, seeing 6 stars in the Trapezium, and I DO have problems finding some of the Herschel (sp?) objects, and some of the really faint objects, I, almost always, can find those objects that the 'BIG' boys can see!
To me, finding, and seeing, is the challenge! Internet has the Hubble pictures, the dynamics, the science. BUT MY SCOPE has the immediate view! AND I MADE IT!
DON'T BE DISCOURAGED IF YOU'RE NOT MAKING A GIANT SCOPE!
Small is nice too!
Mike 6" f6 .....>
Do I yearn for a BIG scope? For sure!
BUT, I made a darn good 6"f6, and I've taken it to a bunch of places and Star Parties, including the WSP06 in the Keys, where I have had a great time.
I am convinced that a good scope (any size) that you enjoy, and can use regularly, is the BEST scope for you.
My 6" began with a pyrex blank that I tortured into a pretty fine optical mirror, more by luck than skill. Ken Novak, when still supplying parts, supplied the mirror mount and secondary spider. I forget where the secondary mirror came from!
I then built, using mail-order for many items, the OTA, several mounts, several tubes, several focusers, several bases, and have now evolved a really useable, for me, SYSTEM!
The heavy aluminum pedestal, which looks like it came from a fold-up artillary mortar piece, holds an old Meade Starfinder 110VAC 1" dia. shafts GEM. I 'found' some 7" ID rings at a Swapfest!
A sheetmetal company made an aluminum tube for me, using my Rings.
A powdercoater in Melbourne, FL did the tube for $40.
Astromart for the DAR focuser and the DSCs and SDI for some gears and a astronomer machinist for some of the other gears and a few hours with some wood and power tools and! VOILA! Here comes a humble 6"f6!
I can comfortably say, and my WSP friends will agree, that I ALWAYS am enjoying my finding, viewing, and studying through my scope!
While I do have trouble on some nights, seeing 6 stars in the Trapezium, and I DO have problems finding some of the Herschel (sp?) objects, and some of the really faint objects, I, almost always, can find those objects that the 'BIG' boys can see!
To me, finding, and seeing, is the challenge! Internet has the Hubble pictures, the dynamics, the science. BUT MY SCOPE has the immediate view! AND I MADE IT!
DON'T BE DISCOURAGED IF YOU'RE NOT MAKING A GIANT SCOPE!
Small is nice too!
Mike 6" f6 .....>
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